‘Supermoon’ on the rise
A “supermoon” rose through a clear sky beyond a string of yellow lights in Cairo on Sunday. The moon is 13.5 percent closer to Earth – and appears 30 percent brighter than its dimmest glow – during the phenomenon known as supermoon, which occurs when a moon in its fullest phase is also its closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. The moon will not be this close again until Aug. 10, 2014.

Hassan Ammar • Associated Press,

World and Nation briefing

June 23, 2013 - 11:09 PM

Nationwide

Airlines rank poorly in customer satisfaction

Fliers are slightly more satisfied with the service offered by U.S.-based airlines since last year. But with the airline industry ranked below the Postal Service for customer satisfaction, it still has a way to go. The findings, from an annual survey of about 70,000 Americans, indicate that the airline industry ranks higher than only subscription TV and Internet service companies.

Colorado

Record wildfire continues to rage

A colossal wildfire near South Fork, a popular summer retreat, continues to be driven by winds and fueled by dead trees in the drought-stricken area, authorities said.The weather has prevented fire crews from making progress on the blaze, which grew overnight to 108 square miles, up from 100 on Saturday. No structures have been lost in the fire, and no injuries have been reported.

India

Weather hampers rescue of flood victims

Dense fog and rain briefly hampered efforts to evacuate thousands of people stranded in northern India, where at least 1,000 people have died in monsoon flooding and landslides. The army suspended helicopter flights to rescue stranded people after dense fog descended on the Himalayan region Sunday morning, but the evacuation flights resumed in the afternoon.

Israel

Chief rabbi suspends himself

Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, the target of a corruption investigation, suspended himself from some of his duties. Yona Metzger’s attorneys informed the state ministers of justice and religious services that he would step down from his posts of rabbinical high-court judge and president of the Chief Rabbinate Council. He is not, however, stepping down as Ashkenazi chief rabbi, a post he has held for 10 years.

China

Factory worker kills 6 in business dispute

A factory employee in Shanghai bludgeoned a ­colleague to death and fatally shot five other people in a spasm of violence apparently set off by a business dispute, the city’s police authority said. It was a rare instance of a gun rampage in China, where few civilians own firearms. The employee is said to have used a tool from the chemical plant where he had worked to fatally beat a colleague, and then grabbed a hunting rifle hidden in the factory’s living quarters.

Syria

Bomb attacks in Damascus kill eight

Suicide bombers targeted security compounds in Damascus and a car bomb exploded in a pro-regime district, killing at least eight people in the separate attacks, the latest in a surge of civil war violence in the capital. In northern Syria, a car bomb killed 12 soldiers in Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Spain

Police arrest 84 in doping crackdown

Police arrested 84 people and dismantled two criminal gangs accused of importing and distributing sports doping substances across Spain. The raids were conducted over a period of months in 10 Spanish regions, with half the arrests in the country’s three largest cities — Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Overall, the authorities seized about 707,000 doses of anabolic steroids, blood boosters and growth hormones.